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Essex Safeguarding Children Board

Drug and alcohol use - emerging trends and challenges

About this session:

Renato Masetti BA (Hons) PGCE (Dip ED) is EPUT’s Drug and Alcohol Training Co-ordinator for Essex, co-ordinating and developing training opportunities in the field of substance misuse. He has been training in the field for over 30 years.  Ren is a qualified teacher and has a background teaching both adults and young people in a variety of settings.  He has a certificate in Addictive Behaviour from St Georges Medical School and a Certificate in Relationship Psychotherapy from Thames Valley University. In 2007 he was awarded the Tom Waller Harm Reduction Award.

This short session will explore some of the current trends in alcohol and drug use culture.

Target Audience:

This session is suitable for any professional who comes into contact with drug and alcohol users.

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the session participants will have:

  • An understanding of the current trends in drug culture and drug use including the emergence of newer drugs, and online purchasing platforms
  • Considered the implications of new developments in drug use.
  • Considered the implications of policy responses to new psychoactive drugs.

Cancellation

If a delegate fails to attend a course that they have booked, or cancel with less than five working days’ notice, their organisation will be charged - £10. A delegate will be deemed a non-attendee if they arrive 15 minutes after the course commences either online or at a venue.

Charging and Cancellation Policy

Ren is also providing systemwide Drug & Alcohol Training across a number of topics as well as bespoke training for organisations.  These sessions are subject to trainer capacity and include topics such as

  • Drug Awareness Update
  • Understanding Alcohol
  • Cannabis Briefing
  • Ketamine update
  • Safer Injecting
  • Drug Use and Human Rights (in development)
  • Heroin, Methadone and more
  • Practical Harm Reduction – Alcohol and other Drugs
  • Drug Use – Avoiding Illness and Death
  • Stimulant Briefing
  • New Psychoactive Substances
  • Understanding Online Purchasing

For more information or booking contact renato.masetti@nhs.net

There are also some upcoming webinars,

  • Understanding Alcohol: Tuesday 14th July 2026, 10am-1pm
  • Heroin, Methadone and more: Tuesday 21st July 2026, 10am-1pm
  • Cannabis - From Skunk to Medicine: Wednesday 2nd September 2026, 10am-1pm
  • Drug Awareness Update: Tuesday 8th September 2026, 10am-1pm

For more information or to book please contact: epunft.drugandalcoholtraining@nhs.net